I have choosen a random day from 2016 to generate some stats of Super Grub2 Disk usage (and their users). I could use some better stats from a longer period of time but being exact is not the purpose of this post.
Social networks
Unlike last year there has been no interaction from Google+.
As you can see Super Grub2 Disk is being used daily on many parts of the globe on such distant places as Brasil, USA or even Swaziland. Given this year stats we could say that Germany is an IT country. You can learn that Chrome books are now among us. Hopefully many of the Super Grub2 Disk final users are young and will never need to ask for help.
See you next year!
Approximatively in a year I will redo the stats again so that we can compare with this year’s stats.
This release improves support for both 64-bit amd64 UEFI boot (avoids booting in blind mode problems) and 32-bit UEFI boot (not tested that one myself). It should be bootable from some Intel-based Mac Book (Pro) systems too. We also add AFD scanning technology to reduce user interface time based interactions while scanning the computer system. Finally some of the internal code has been updated to reflect the new repositories which are found in github rescatux’s organization.
So if you already have Rescatux 0.40b5 you do not need at all to download Rescatux 0.40b6 unless you are concerned about UEFI boot. Anyways it’s always nice for you to have the latest version so that you can give us feedback.
It does not support Secure boot yet. The reason is we are going to rely on the debian-cd team work inside Debian itself and they have not finished with it yet.
I am trying to polish this work so that it finally makes into Debian. It’s not obvious as it would seem originally with the current live-build framework based on bash. ( live-build UEFI boot support bug ).
If you have a UEFI boot-only system feedback is welcome. Specially if the Debian installation disks work for you but not the Rescatux ones.
Finally I want to make clear that we don’t support fixing specific UEFI issues yet from inside Rescapp native options. If you run the Restore Grub option and your Grub was originally setup in an EFI way it should probably fix it.
You can also use boot-repair for UEFI issues, of course, which it’s included inside Rescatux, but that’s not supported by us.
Roadmap for Rescatux 0.40 stable release:
You can check the complete changelog with link to each one of the issues at: Rescatux 0.32-freeze roadmap which I’ll be reusing for Rescatux 0.40 stable release.
(Fixed in 0.40b5) [#2192] UEFI boot support
(Fixed in 0.40b2) [#1323] GPT support
[#1364] Review Copyright notice
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2188] install-mbr : Windows 7 seems not to be fixed with it
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2190] debian-live. Include cpu detection and loopback cfg patches
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2193] bootinfoscript: Use it as a package
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2199] Btrfs support
(Closed in 0.40b1) [#2205] Handle different default sh script
(Fixed in 0.40b2) [#2216] Verify separated /usr support
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2217] chown root root on sudoers
[#2220] Make sure all the source code is available
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2221] Detect SAM file algorithm fails with directories which have spaces on them
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2227] Use chntpw 1.0-1 from Jessie
(Fixed in 0.40b1) [#2231] SElinux support on chroot options
[#2233] Disable USB automount
[#2236] chntpw based options need to be rewritten for reusing code
[#2239]https://www.supergrubdisk.org/wizard-step-put-rescatux-into-a-media/suppose that the image is based on Super Grub2 Disk version and not Isolinux.The step about extracting iso inside an iso would not be longer needed.”>Update doc: Put Rescatux into a media for Isolinux based cd
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2259] Update bootinfoscript to the latest GIT version
[#2264] chntpw – Save prior registry files
[#2234] New option: Easy Grub fix
[#2235] New option: Easy Windows Admin
Improved bugs (0.40b6):
(Improved in 0.40b6) [#2192] UEFI boot support
Fixed bugs (0.40b5):
(Fixed in 0.40b5) [#2192] UEFI boot support
Fixed bugs (0.40b2):
(Fixed in 0.40b2) [#1323] GPT support
(Fixed in 0.40b2) [#2216] Verify separated /usr support
Fixed bugs (0.40b1):
(Fixed in 0.40b1) [#2231] SElinux support on chroot options
Reopened bugs (0.40b1):
(Reopened in 0.40b1) [#2191] Change Keyboard layout
Fixed bugs (0.32b3):
(Fixed in 0.32b3) [#2191] Change Keyboard layout
Other fixed bugs (0.32b2):
Rescatux logo is not shown at boot
Boot entries are named “Live xxxx” instead of “Rescatux xxxx”
Fixed bugs (0.32b1):
Networking detection improved (fallback to network-manager-gnome)
Bottom bar does not have a shorcut to a file manager as it’s a common practice in modern desktops. Fixed when falling back to LXDE.
Double-clicking on directories on desktop opens Iceweasel (Firefox fork) instead of a file manager. Fixed when falling back to LXDE.
Improvements (0.32b1):
Super Grub2 Disk is no longer included. That makes easier to put the ISO to USB devices thanks to standard multiboot tools which support Debian Live cds.
Rescapp UI has been redesigned
Every option is at hand at the first screen.
Rescapp options can be scrolled. That makes it easier to add new options without bothering on final design.
Run option screen buttons have been rearranged to make it easier to read.
RazorQT has been replaced by LXDE which seems more mature. LXQT will have to wait.
WICD has been replaced by network-manager-gnome. That makes easier to connect to wired and wireless networks.
It is no longer based on Debian Unstable (sid) branch.
About other downloads. As this is the first time I develop Super Grub2 Disk out of source code (well, probably not the first time, but the first time in ages) I have not been able to build these other downloads: coreboot, i386-efi, i386-pc, ieee1275, x86_64-efi, standalone coreboot, standalone i386-efi, standalone ieee1275. Help is welcome on this subject.
Super GRUB2 Disk is a live cd that helps you to boot into most any Operating System (OS) even if you cannot boot into it by normal means.
A new stable release
The former Super Grub2 Disk stable release was 2.00s3 version and released on May 2015 (10 months ago) . New features or changes since previous stable version are:
Using upstream grub-2.02-beta3 tag as the new base for Super Grub2 Disk’s grub.
If Super Grub2 Disk 2.02s3 let you boot into your OS but Super Grub2 Disk 2.02s4 does not let you boot into your OS please report it so that we can report it back to the grub team which tries to release a Grub 2.02 stable release.
Major improvement in Windows OS detection (based on BCD) Windows Vista, 7, …
That means that even if Windows 7 is alone in the hard disk (with no GNU/Linux) it will now be detected and you will be able to boot it if the partition boot record is ok. The fix was trivial, take into account that ntfs is case sensitive but, somehow, not enough people had complained about it. So, please, if something it’s not working as expected report it.
Major improvement in Windows OS detection (based on ntldr) Windows XP, 2000, …
Same explanation as per Windows 7 but applied to Windows XP.
Super Grub2 Disk 2.02s4 – Windows 7 detected
We are going to see which are the complete Super Grub2 Disk features with a demo video, where you can download it, the thank you – hall of fame and some thoughts about the Super Grub2 Disk development.
Please do not forget to read our howtos so that you can have step by step guides (how to make a cdrom or an usb, how to boot from it, etc) on how to use Super Grub2 Disk and, if needed, Rescatux.
Super Grub2 Disk 2.02s3 main menu
Tour
Here there is a little video tour in order to discover most of Super Grub2 Disk options. The rest of the options you will have to discover them by yourself.
Features
Most of the features here will let you boot into your Operating Systems. The rest of the options will improve the Super Grub2 Disk operating systems autodetecting (enable RAID, LVM, etc.) or will deal with minor aspects of the user interface (Colours, language, etc.).
Change the language UI
Translated into several languages
Spanish / Español
German / Deutsch
French / Français
Italian / Italiano
Malay / Bahasa Melayu
Super Grub2 Disk 2.01 rc2 Spanish Main Menu
Detect and show boot methods option to detect most Operating Systems
Super Grub2 Disk 2.01 beta 3 – Everything menu making use of grub.cfg extract entries option functionality
Enable all native disk drivers *experimental* to detect most Operating Systems also in special devices or filesystems
Boot manually
Operating Systems
grub.cfg – Extract entries
Super Grub2 Disk 2.01 beta 3 grub.cfg Extract entries option
grub.cfg – (GRUB2 configuration files)
menu.lst – (GRUB legacy configuration files)
core.img – (GRUB2 installation (even if mbr is overwritten))
Disks and Partitions (Chainload)
Bootable ISOs (in /boot-isos or /boot/boot-isos
Extra GRUB2 functionality
Enable GRUB2’s LVM support
Enable GRUB2’s RAID support
Enable GRUB2’s PATA support (to work around BIOS bugs/limitation)
Mount encrypted volumes (LUKS and geli)
Enable serial terminal
Extra Search functionality
Search in floppy ON/OFF
Search in CDROM ON/OFF
List Devices / Partitions
Color ON /OFF
Exit
Halt the computer
Reboot the computer
Supported Operating Systems
Excluding too custom kernels from university students Super Grub2 Disk can autodetect and boot most every Operating System. Some examples are written here so that Google bots can see it and also to make more confident the final user who searchs his own special (according to him) Operating System.
Windows
Windows Vista/7/8/8.1
Windows NT/2000/XP
Windows 98/ME
MS-DOS
FreeDOS
GNU/Linux
Direct Kernel with autodetected initrd
Super Grub2 Disk – Detect any Operating System – Linux kernels detected
vmlinuz-*
linux-*
kernel-genkernel-*
Debian / Ubuntu / Mint
Mageia
Fedora / CentOS / Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
openSUSE / SuSE Linux Enterpsise Server (SLES)
Arch
Any many, many, more.
FreeBSD
FreeBSD (single)
FreeBSD (verbose)
FreeBSD (no ACPI)
FreeBSD (safe mode)
FreeBSD (Default boot loader)
EFI files
Mac OS X/Darwin 32bit or 64bit
Super Grub2 Disk 2.00s2 rc4 Mac OS X entries (Image credit to: Smx)
Support for different hardware platforms
Before this release we only had the hybrid version aimed at regular pcs. Now with the upcoming new EFI based machines you have the EFI standalone versions among others. What we don’t support is booting when secure boot is enabled.
Most any PC thanks to hybrid version (i386, x86_64, x86_64-efi) (ISO)
EFI x86_64 standalone version (EFI)
Additional Floppy, CD and USB in one download (ISO)
i386-pc
x86_64-efi
Known bugs
Non English translations are not completed
Enable all native disk drivers *experimental* crashes Virtualbox randomly
Supported Media
Compact Disk – Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) / DVD
Universal Serial Bus (USB) devices
Floppy (1.98s1 version only)
Downloads
Recommended download (Floppy, CD & USB in one) (Valid for i386, x86_64, and x86_64-efi):
About other downloads. As this is the first time I develop Super Grub2 Disk out of source code (well, probably not the first time, but the first time in ages) I have not been able to build these other downloads: coreboot, i386-efi, i386-pc, ieee1275, x86_64-efi, standalone coreboot, standalone i386-efi, standalone ieee1275. Help is welcome on this subject.
Using upstream grub-2.02-beta3 tag as the new base for Super Grub2 Disk’s grub.
Major improvement in Windows OS detection (based on BCD) Windows Vista, 7, …
Major improvement in Windows OS detection (based on ntldr) Windows XP, 2000, …
Changes since 2.02s2 beta 1 version:
(Devel) grub-mkstandalone was deleted because we no longer use it
Updated (and added) Copyright notices for 2015
New option: ‘Disks and Partitions (Chainload)’ adapted from Smx work
Many files were rewritten so that they only loop between devices that actually need to be searched into.
This enhacement will make Super Grub2 Disk faster.
Remove Super Grub2 Disk own devices from search by default. Added an option to be able to enable/disable the Super Grub2 Disk own devices search.
2.02s2 beta 1 changelog:
Updated grub 2.02 build to commit: 8e5bc2f4d3767485e729ed96ea943570d1cb1e45
Updated documentation for building Super Grub2 Disk
Improvement on upstream grub (d29259b134257458a98c1ddc05d2a36c677ded37 – test: do not stop after first file test or closing bracket) will probably make Super Grub2 Disk run faster.
Added new grub build scripts so that Super Grub2 Disk uses its own built versions of grub and not the default system / distro / chroot one.
Ensure that Mac OS X entries are detected ok thanks to Users dir. This is because Grub2 needs to emulate Mac OS X kernel so that it’s detected as a proper boot device on Apple computers.
Thanks to upstream grub improvement now Super Grub2 Disk supports booting in EFI mode when booted from a USB device / hard disk. Actually SG2D was announced previously to boot from EFI from a USB device while it only booted from a cdrom.
2.02s1 beta 1 changelog:
Added new option: “Enable all native disk drivers” so that you can try to load: SATA, PATA and USB hard disks (and their partitions) as native disk drives. This is experimental.
Removed no longer needed options: “Enable USB” and “Enable PATA”.
“Search floppy” and “Search cdrom” options were moved into “Extra GRUB2 functionality menu”. At the same time “Extra Search functionality” menu was removed.
Added new straight-forward option: “Enable GRUB2’s RAID and LVM support”.
“List devices/partitions” was renamed to “Print devices/partitions”.
“Everything” option was renamed to “Detect and show boot methods”.
“Everything +” option was removed to avoid confusions.
Other minor improvements in the source code.
Updated translation files. Now most translations are pending.
Updated INSTALL instructions.
Finally you can check all the detailed changes at our GIT commits.
If you want to translate into your language please check TRANSLATION file at source code to learn how to translate into your language.
Thank you – Hall of fame
I want to thank in alphabetical order:
bfree (Niall Wash): For his work in rethinking how Super Grub2 Disk grub script might be rewritten although we never used that code. For adding code for EFI chainloader, helping on building and testing Super Grub2 Disk EFI releases.
Jordan_U (Jordan Uggla) (jordan.uggla AT gmail DOT com): For his work in rewriting Lua Super Grub2 Disk into new Grub2 scripting. Also for his work in translation system based on gettext and po. And also I want to thank him for all this work in Super Grub2 Disk in many many ways.
nox (Juergen Lock) (nox AT freebsd DOT org): For his work in fixing *BSD boot entries and helping adding new *BSD boot entries and testing.
Smx (Stefano): For his Mac OS X / Darwin boot fixes and testing. He has also worked in redesigning some of the menues and probably his work will be included in next Super Grub2 Disk versions. He has also worked in a keyboard selection menu on his own too. That will be also included in next versions.
The person who writes this article is adrian15 and is proud of being responsible among other things for the rewriting of options as if they were libraries. And also for the User Interface (UI) complete redesign.
And I cannot forget about thanking bTactic, the enterprise where I work at and that hosts our site.
Some thoughts about Super Grub2 Disk development
Super Grub2 Disk development ideas
I don’t know when but I plan to readapt some scripts from os-prober. That will let us detect more operating systems. Not sure when though. I mean, it’s not something that worries me because it does not affect too many final users. But, well, it’s something new that I hadn’t thought about.
Again, please send us feedback on what you think it’s missing on Super Grub2 Disk.
Rescatux development
I want to focus on Rescatux development on the next months so that we have an stable release before the end of 2016. It’s a shame because last time I predicted July 2015. But, well, I don’t want to maintain many forks myself. That’s why I want to contribute some of these subprojects (E.g. UEFI support on Debian Live) to Debian properly and that takes some time.
This release adds support for both 64-bit amd64 UEFI boot (most common) and 32-bit UEFI boot (not tested that one myself). It should be bootable from some Intel-based Mac Book (Pro) systems too.
It does not support Secure boot yet. The reason is we are going to rely on the debian-cd team work inside Debian itself and they have not finished with it yet.
If you have a UEFI boot-only system feedback is welcome. Specially if the Debian installation disks work for you but not the Rescatux ones.
This was possible thanks to the great feedback from prolinux.de (it’s the only community where I gather quite useful feedback on their comments) which had made me think about reconsidering UEFI boot support and, even if possible, Secure boot support.
Finally I want to make clear that we don’t support fixing specific UEFI issues yet from inside Rescapp native options. If you run the Restore Grub option and your Grub was originally setup in an EFI way it should probably fix it.
You can also use boot-repair for UEFI issues, of course, which it’s included inside Rescatux, but that’s not supported by us.
Roadmap for Rescatux 0.40 stable release:
You can check the complete changelog with link to each one of the issues at: Rescatux 0.32-freeze roadmap which I’ll be reusing for Rescatux 0.40 stable release.
(Fixed in 0.40b5) [#2192] UEFI boot support
(Fixed in 0.40b2) [#1323] GPT support
[#1364] Review Copyright notice
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2188] install-mbr : Windows 7 seems not to be fixed with it
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2190] debian-live. Include cpu detection and loopback cfg patches
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2193] bootinfoscript: Use it as a package
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2199] Btrfs support
(Closed in 0.40b1) [#2205] Handle different default sh script
(Fixed in 0.40b2) [#2216] Verify separated /usr support
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2217] chown root root on sudoers
[#2220] Make sure all the source code is available
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2221] Detect SAM file algorithm fails with directories which have spaces on them
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2227] Use chntpw 1.0-1 from Jessie
(Fixed in 0.40b1) [#2231] SElinux support on chroot options
[#2233] Disable USB automount
[#2236] chntpw based options need to be rewritten for reusing code
[#2239]https://www.supergrubdisk.org/wizard-step-put-rescatux-into-a-media/suppose that the image is based on Super Grub2 Disk version and not Isolinux.The step about extracting iso inside an iso would not be longer needed.”>Update doc: Put Rescatux into a media for Isolinux based cd
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2259] Update bootinfoscript to the latest GIT version
[#2264] chntpw – Save prior registry files
[#2234] New option: Easy Grub fix
[#2235] New option: Easy Windows Admin
Fixed bugs (0.40b5):
(Fixed in 0.40b5) [#2192] UEFI boot support
Fixed bugs (0.40b2):
(Fixed in 0.40b2) [#1323] GPT support
(Fixed in 0.40b2) [#2216] Verify separated /usr support
Fixed bugs (0.40b1):
(Fixed in 0.40b1) [#2231] SElinux support on chroot options
Reopened bugs (0.40b1):
(Reopened in 0.40b1) [#2191] Change Keyboard layout
Fixed bugs (0.32b3):
(Fixed in 0.32b3) [#2191] Change Keyboard layout
Other fixed bugs (0.32b2):
Rescatux logo is not shown at boot
Boot entries are named “Live xxxx” instead of “Rescatux xxxx”
Fixed bugs (0.32b1):
Networking detection improved (fallback to network-manager-gnome)
Bottom bar does not have a shorcut to a file manager as it’s a common practice in modern desktops. Fixed when falling back to LXDE.
Double-clicking on directories on desktop opens Iceweasel (Firefox fork) instead of a file manager. Fixed when falling back to LXDE.
Improvements (0.32b1):
Super Grub2 Disk is no longer included. That makes easier to put the ISO to USB devices thanks to standard multiboot tools which support Debian Live cds.
Rescapp UI has been redesigned
Every option is at hand at the first screen.
Rescapp options can be scrolled. That makes it easier to add new options without bothering on final design.
Run option screen buttons have been rearranged to make it easier to read.
RazorQT has been replaced by LXDE which seems more mature. LXQT will have to wait.
WICD has been replaced by network-manager-gnome. That makes easier to connect to wired and wireless networks.
It is no longer based on Debian Unstable (sid) branch.
This release adds support for a separated /usr in case that the GNU/Linux distribution uses UsrMerge. This is again is a another feature in order to be able to support completely the Fedora, CentOS, RHEL and alike distributions.
Additionally there are three new features related to GPT support:
Gptsync – Create Hybrid MBR
Recompute Hybrid GPT/MBR CHS
Check bios_grub partition on GPT
Finally on the technical side the gdisk package has been added and support of gpt partitions by default has been checked thanks to newest fdisk binary on Jessie that now can detect GPT partitions ok.
Although some of these GPT features are useful in some scenarios where you use old OSes that do not understand GPT partition tables but only MBR partition tables in most of the cases you won’t need to use them. Probably the most useful option would be the Check bios_grub partition on GPT which could be useful in those cases where there is a GPT partition table but, somehow, you don’t manage to install grub-efi package (Maybe because the machine is not EFI but has a GPT hard disk.) That option will encourage you to create a bios_grub partition for you to be able to install grub-pc package finally. But, once again, if possible try to install grub-efi package instead.
The great feedback from prolinux.de (it’s the only community where I gather quite useful feedback on their comments) have made me think about reconsidering UEFI boot support and, even if possible, Secure boot support.
I don’t want to support Secure boot support because of ethics but that means in practice that less people would be able to use Rescatux (more easily) in order to fix their systems. And, well, I would probably add Secure boot support to Super Grub2 Disk too. Although in that later case I’m not sure if it makes sense.
I have also noticed that the current SElinux support on Rescatux needs to be improved because, e.g. I cannot install the ssh program in it while running because of context issues. It might be a problem of Debian Jessie ssh package but I think it’s a problem on how the aufs mount in the disk is being done. This is more an issue on Debian Live accepting SELinux support patch than on Rescatux not working ok on SELinux systems. It actually works quite nicely on them.
Roadmap for Rescatux 0.40 stable release:
You can check the complete changelog with link to each one of the issues at: Rescatux 0.32-freeze roadmap which I’ll be reusing for Rescatux 0.40 stable release.
(Fixed in 0.40b2) [#1323] GPT support
[#1364] Review Copyright notice
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2188] install-mbr : Windows 7 seems not to be fixed with it
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2190] debian-live. Include cpu detection and loopback cfg patches
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2193] bootinfoscript: Use it as a package
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2199] Btrfs support
(Closed in 0.40b1) [#2205] Handle different default sh script
(Fixed in 0.40b2) [#2216] Verify separated /usr support
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2217] chown root root on sudoers
[#2220] Make sure all the source code is available
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2221] Detect SAM file algorithm fails with directories which have spaces on them
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2227] Use chntpw 1.0-1 from Jessie
(Fixed in 0.40b1) [#2231] SElinux support on chroot options
[#2233] Disable USB automount
[#2236] chntpw based options need to be rewritten for reusing code
[#2239]https://www.supergrubdisk.org/wizard-step-put-rescatux-into-a-media/suppose that the image is based on Super Grub2 Disk version and not Isolinux.The step about extracting iso inside an iso would not be longer needed.”>Update doc: Put Rescatux into a media for Isolinux based cd
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2259] Update bootinfoscript to the latest GIT version
[#2264] chntpw – Save prior registry files
[#2234] New option: Easy Grub fix
[#2235] New option: Easy Windows Admin
Fixed bugs (0.40b2):
(Fixed in 0.40b2) [#1323] GPT support
(Fixed in 0.40b2) [#2216] Verify separated /usr support
Fixed bugs (0.40b1):
(Fixed in 0.40b1) [#2231] SElinux support on chroot options
Reopened bugs (0.40b1):
(Reopened in 0.40b1) [#2191] Change Keyboard layout
Fixed bugs (0.32b3):
(Fixed in 0.32b3) [#2191] Change Keyboard layout
Other fixed bugs (0.32b2):
Rescatux logo is not shown at boot
Boot entries are named “Live xxxx” instead of “Rescatux xxxx”
Fixed bugs (0.32b1):
Networking detection improved (fallback to network-manager-gnome)
Bottom bar does not have a shorcut to a file manager as it’s a common practice in modern desktops. Fixed when falling back to LXDE.
Double-clicking on directories on desktop opens Iceweasel (Firefox fork) instead of a file manager. Fixed when falling back to LXDE.
Improvements (0.32b1):
Super Grub2 Disk is no longer included. That makes easier to put the ISO to USB devices thanks to standard multiboot tools which support Debian Live cds.
Rescapp UI has been redesigned
Every option is at hand at the first screen.
Rescapp options can be scrolled. That makes it easier to add new options without bothering on final design.
Run option screen buttons have been rearranged to make it easier to read.
RazorQT has been replaced by LXDE which seems more mature. LXQT will have to wait.
WICD has been replaced by network-manager-gnome. That makes easier to connect to wired and wireless networks.
It is no longer based on Debian Unstable (sid) branch.
It’s based mainly on Debian Jessie (Stable). Some packages are from Debian Unstable (sid).
Feedback welcome:
Did you ever complain because of not being able to write in your own keyboard layout when asking for help in the integrated chat? Don’t miss your chance on testing if it works ok for your language and report us feedback !!!
Now Rescatux is based on Debian Jessie (Latest Debian stable release)!
Rescatux 0.40 beta 1 is now based on Jessie
The great new feature in this release is the SELinux support. SELinux support is used by the Fedora, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), CentOS alike distributions. It’s not so much about adding SELinux related features which might be implemented in a far future. It’s about being able to interact with SELinux based system without damaging original contexts (contexts like additional permissions in SELinux).
Currently if you wanted to use the change password option on these systems then the system did not let you login (even if you know a password from a user different from the one its password you had changed) because these wrong contexts.
Now it should work flawlessly but please give us feedback here on the comments or in the mailing list. Anything about you detecting that Rescatux is not using the correct contexts for your files is welcomed.
It’s also welcomed feedback from people who uses non standard policy types such as the military ones. Given the nature of these systems try the options in non production machines of course.
This new beta release loses the long awaited feature about being able to select your own language, country and keyboard. The reason is that Rescatux 0.40 is based on jessie. These means that I have to use tails-greeter from Jessie and not Wheezy. The other problem on tails-greeter is that I need to hack it (this time properly thanks to the insights I have been given in Debconf 15 from Tails people) in order to fit my needs.
Finally don’t expect any new release in the next months. I am too busy. Anyway once I’ll start not being busy I will be able to speed a lot because the SELinux support improvement was very difficult to implement.
Many options have not been tested after having based Rescatux on jessie. So please use the Rescatux 0.32 beta 3 as if it was an stable release and this one as if it was a beta one. Use Rescatux 0.40 beta 1 if you have a SELinux based system of course.
In case you were asking yourself I add 0.1 to the Rescatux version either when the Rescapp program has been improved a lot or when the Debian OS has been updated to a new stable release. The latter is the reason why we jump from 0.3X to 0.4X suddenly.
I almost forgot. Thank you very much to the #fedora-devel and #selinux who helped so much on bringing SELinux support to Debian Live.
Roadmap for Rescatux 0.40 stable release:
You can check the complete changelog with link to each one of the issues at: Rescatux 0.32-freeze roadmap which I’ll be reusing for Rescatux 0.40 stable release.
[#1323] GPT support
[#1364] Review Copyright notice
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2188] install-mbr : Windows 7 seems not to be fixed with it
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2190] debian-live. Include cpu detection and loopback cfg patches
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2193] bootinfoscript: Use it as a package
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2199] Btrfs support
[#2205] Handle different default sh script
[#2216] Verify separated /usr support
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2217] chown root root on sudoers
[#2220] Make sure all the source code is available
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2221] Detect SAM file algorithm fails with directories which have spaces on them
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2227] Use chntpw 1.0-1 from Jessie
(Fixed in 0.40b1) [#2231] SElinux support on chroot options
[#2233] Disable USB automount
[#2236] chntpw based options need to be rewritten for reusing code
[#2239]https://www.supergrubdisk.org/wizard-step-put-rescatux-into-a-media/suppose that the image is based on Super Grub2 Disk version and not Isolinux.The step about extracting iso inside an iso would not be longer needed.”>Update doc: Put Rescatux into a media for Isolinux based cd
(Fixed in: 0.32b2) [#2259] Update bootinfoscript to the latest GIT version
[#2264] chntpw – Save prior registry files
[#2234] New option: Easy Grub fix
[#2235] New option: Easy Windows Admin
Fixed bugs (0.40b1):
(Fixed in 0.40b1) [#2231] SElinux support on chroot options
Reopened bugs (0.40b1):
(Reopened in 0.40b1) [#2191] Change Keyboard layout
Fixed bugs (0.32b3):
(Fixed in 0.32b3) [#2191] Change Keyboard layout
Other fixed bugs (0.32b2):
Rescatux logo is not shown at boot
Boot entries are named “Live xxxx” instead of “Rescatux xxxx”
Fixed bugs (0.32b1):
Networking detection improved (fallback to network-manager-gnome)
Bottom bar does not have a shorcut to a file manager as it’s a common practice in modern desktops. Fixed when falling back to LXDE.
Double-clicking on directories on desktop opens Iceweasel (Firefox fork) instead of a file manager. Fixed when falling back to LXDE.
Improvements (0.32b1):
Super Grub2 Disk is no longer included. That makes easier to put the ISO to USB devices thanks to standard multiboot tools which support Debian Live cds.
Rescapp UI has been redesigned
Every option is at hand at the first screen.
Rescapp options can be scrolled. That makes it easier to add new options without bothering on final design.
Run option screen buttons have been rearranged to make it easier to read.
RazorQT has been replaced by LXDE which seems more mature. LXQT will have to wait.
WICD has been replaced by network-manager-gnome. That makes easier to connect to wired and wireless networks.
It is no longer based on Debian Unstable (sid) branch.
It’s based mainly on Debian Jessie (Stable). Some packages are from Debian Unstable (sid).
Feedback welcome:
Did you ever complain because of not being able to write in your own keyboard layout when asking for help in the integrated chat? Don’t miss your chance on testing if it works ok for your language and report us feedback !!!
About other downloads. As this is the first time I develop Super Grub2 Disk out of source code (well, probably not the first time, but the first time in ages) I have not been able to build these other downloads: coreboot, i386-efi, i386-pc, ieee1275, x86_64-efi, standalone coreboot, standalone i386-efi, standalone ieee1275. Help is welcome on this subject.
I am not proud to announce Super Grub2 Disk 2.02s3 stable.
Super GRUB2 Disk is a live cd that helps you to boot into most any Operating System (OS) even if you cannot boot into it by normal means.
A new stable release
The former Super Grub2 Disk stable release was 2.00s2 version and released on May 2014 (one year ago). This release does not have as many new features as the previous stable version but some of them are quite interesting:
New option: ‘Disks and Partitions (Chainload)’ adapted from Smx work.
Super Grub2 Disk 2.02s3 – Chainload Disks and Partitions
New option: “Enable all native disk drivers” so that you can try to load: SATA, PATA and USB hard disks (and their partitions) as native disk drives. This is experimental.
Most options had their search code improved. Super Grub2 Disk should be faster.
Based on grub 2.02 ( commit: 8e5bc2f4d3767485e729ed96ea943570d1cb1e45 )
Super Grub2 Disk builds its own grub based on upstream grub instead of Debian grub.
Mac OS X kernel detection was improved to avoid false detections.
Thanks to upstream grub improvement now Super Grub2 Disk supports booting in EFI mode when booted from a USB device / hard disk. Actually SG2D was announced previously to boot from EFI from a USB device while it only booted from a cdrom.
Many options titles were rewritten so that they are better understood.
Let me repeat it slowly. With Super Grub2 Disk hybrid iso you will be able to boot from:
EFI mode. Cdrom or DVD media.
EFI mode. USB or hard disk media.
BIOS mode. Cdrom or DVD media.
BIOS mode. USB or hard disk media.
We are going to see which are the complete Super Grub2 Disk features with a demo video, where you can download it, the thank you – hall of fame and some thoughts about the Super Grub2 Disk development.
Please do not forget to read our howtos so that you can have step by step guides (how to make a cdrom or an usb, how to boot from it, etc) on how to use Super Grub2 Disk and, if needed, Rescatux.
Super Grub2 Disk 2.02s3 main menu
Tour
Here there is a little video tour in order to discover most of Super Grub2 Disk options. The rest of the options you will have to discover them by yourself.
Features
Most of the features here will let you boot into your Operating Systems. The rest of the options will improve the Super Grub2 Disk operating systems autodetecting (enable RAID, LVM, etc.) or will deal with minor aspects of the user interface (Colours, language, etc.).
Change the language UI
Translated into several languages
Spanish / Español
German / Deutsch
French / Français
Italian / Italiano
Malay / Bahasa Melayu
Super Grub2 Disk 2.01 rc2 Spanish Main Menu
Detect and show boot methods option to detect most Operating Systems
Super Grub2 Disk 2.01 beta 3 – Everything menu making use of grub.cfg extract entries option functionality
Enable all native disk drivers *experimental* to detect most Operating Systems also in special devices or filesystems
Boot manually
Operating Systems
grub.cfg – Extract entries
Super Grub2 Disk 2.01 beta 3 grub.cfg Extract entries option
grub.cfg – (GRUB2 configuration files)
menu.lst – (GRUB legacy configuration files)
core.img – (GRUB2 installation (even if mbr is overwritten))
Disks and Partitions (Chainload)
Bootable ISOs (in /boot-isos or /boot/boot-isos
Extra GRUB2 functionality
Enable GRUB2’s LVM support
Enable GRUB2’s RAID support
Enable GRUB2’s PATA support (to work around BIOS bugs/limitation)
Mount encrypted volumes (LUKS and geli)
Enable serial terminal
Extra Search functionality
Search in floppy ON/OFF
Search in CDROM ON/OFF
List Devices / Partitions
Color ON /OFF
Exit
Halt the computer
Reboot the computer
Supported Operating Systems
Excluding too custom kernels from university students Super Grub2 Disk can autodetect and boot most every Operating System. Some examples are written here so that Google bots can see it and also to make more confident the final user who searchs his own special (according to him) Operating System.
Windows
Windows Vista/7/8/8.1
Windows NT/2000/XP
Windows 98/ME
MS-DOS
FreeDOS
GNU/Linux
Direct Kernel with autodetected initrd
Super Grub2 Disk – Detect any Operating System – Linux kernels detected
vmlinuz-*
linux-*
kernel-genkernel-*
Debian / Ubuntu / Mint
Mageia
Fedora / CentOS / Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
openSUSE / SuSE Linux Enterpsise Server (SLES)
Arch
Any many, many, more.
FreeBSD
FreeBSD (single)
FreeBSD (verbose)
FreeBSD (no ACPI)
FreeBSD (safe mode)
FreeBSD (Default boot loader)
EFI files
Mac OS X/Darwin 32bit or 64bit
Super Grub2 Disk 2.00s2 rc4 Mac OS X entries (Image credit to: Smx)
Support for different hardware platforms
Before this release we only had the hybrid version aimed at regular pcs. Now with the upcoming new EFI based machines you have the EFI standalone versions among others. What we don’t support is booting when secure boot is enabled.
Most any PC thanks to hybrid version (i386, x86_64, x86_64-efi) (ISO)
EFI x86_64 standalone version (EFI)
Additional Floppy, CD and USB in one download (ISO)
i386-pc
x86_64-efi
Known bugs
Non English translations are not completed
Enable all native disk drivers *experimental* crashes Virtualbox randomly
Supported Media
Compact Disk – Read Only Memory (CD-ROM)
Universal Serial Bus (USB) devices
Floppy (1.98s1 version only)
Downloads
Recommended download (Floppy, CD & USB in one) (Valid for i386, x86_64, and x86_64-efi):
About other downloads. As this is the first time I develop Super Grub2 Disk out of source code (well, probably not the first time, but the first time in ages) I have not been able to build these other downloads: coreboot, i386-efi, i386-pc, ieee1275, x86_64-efi, standalone coreboot, standalone i386-efi, standalone ieee1275. Help is welcome on this subject.
(Devel) grub-mkstandalone was deleted because we no longer use it
Updated (and added) Copyright notices for 2015
New option: ‘Disks and Partitions (Chainload)’ adapted from Smx work
Many files were rewritten so that they only loop between devices that actually need to be searched into.
This enhacement will make Super Grub2 Disk faster.
Remove Super Grub2 Disk own devices from search by default. Added an option to be able to enable/disable the Super Grub2 Disk own devices search.
2.02s2 beta 1 changelog:
Updated grub 2.02 build to commit: 8e5bc2f4d3767485e729ed96ea943570d1cb1e45
Updated documentation for building Super Grub2 Disk
Improvement on upstream grub (d29259b134257458a98c1ddc05d2a36c677ded37 – test: do not stop after first file test or closing bracket) will probably make Super Grub2 Disk run faster.
Added new grub build scripts so that Super Grub2 Disk uses its own built versions of grub and not the default system / distro / chroot one.
Ensure that Mac OS X entries are detected ok thanks to Users dir. This is because Grub2 needs to emulate Mac OS X kernel so that it’s detected as a proper boot device on Apple computers.
Thanks to upstream grub improvement now Super Grub2 Disk supports booting in EFI mode when booted from a USB device / hard disk. Actually SG2D was announced previously to boot from EFI from a USB device while it only booted from a cdrom.
2.02s1 beta 1 changelog:
Added new option: “Enable all native disk drivers” so that you can try to load: SATA, PATA and USB hard disks (and their partitions) as native disk drives. This is experimental.
Removed no longer needed options: “Enable USB” and “Enable PATA”.
“Search floppy” and “Search cdrom” options were moved into “Extra GRUB2 functionality menu”. At the same time “Extra Search functionality” menu was removed.
Added new straight-forward option: “Enable GRUB2’s RAID and LVM support”.
“List devices/partitions” was renamed to “Print devices/partitions”.
“Everything” option was renamed to “Detect and show boot methods”.
“Everything +” option was removed to avoid confusions.
Other minor improvements in the source code.
Updated translation files. Now most translations are pending.
Updated INSTALL instructions.
Finally you can check all the detailed changes at our GIT commits.
If you want to translate into your language please check TRANSLATION file at source code to learn how to translate into your language.
Thank you – Hall of fame
I want to thank in alphabetical order:
bfree (Niall Wash): For his work in rethinking how Super Grub2 Disk grub script might be rewritten although we never used that code. For adding code for EFI chainloader, helping on building and testing Super Grub2 Disk EFI releases.
Jordan_U (Jordan Uggla) (jordan.uggla AT gmail DOT com): For his work in rewriting Lua Super Grub2 Disk into new Grub2 scripting. Also for his work in translation system based on gettext and po. And also I want to thank him for all this work in Super Grub2 Disk in many many ways.
nox (Juergen Lock) (nox AT freebsd DOT org): For his work in fixing *BSD boot entries and helping adding new *BSD boot entries and testing.
Smx (Stefano): For his Mac OS X / Darwin boot fixes and testing. He has also worked in redesigning some of the menues and probably his work will be included in next Super Grub2 Disk versions. He has also worked in a keyboard selection menu on his own too. That will be also included in next versions.
The person who writes this article is adrian15 and is proud of being responsible among other things for the rewriting of options as if they were libraries. And also for the User Interface (UI) complete redesign.
And I cannot forget about thanking bTactic, the enterprise where I work at and that hosts our site.
Some thoughts about Super Grub2 Disk development
Super Grub2 Disk development to be stalled
There has not been too much feedback for Super Grub2 Disk betas. Hopefully this new stable release come back with new bugs (Yes, it’s sad to say so). As I want to focus on new Rescatux stable if no one wants to help on Super Grub2 Disk development there won’t be any new release (stable or beta) in a long time.
Rescatux development
I want to focus on Rescatux development on the next months so that we have an stable release on July 2015. I will probably base it on newest Debian Jessie.
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